Posts in category Silver Lake Modern

Driving by this elegant modernist home on my way to visit a friend on nearby Dillon Street, I first thought I had stumbled upon a heretofore-undiscovered Rudolph Schindler original. The architect, as it turns out, relates to Schindler in a fascinating way. After earning a B.F.A. degree in Sculpture from Pomona College, Robert Nicolais received his Master’s Degree at the Yale School of Architecture. Arriving back in Los Angeles in 1978, he volunteered at Schindler’s King’s Road House, where the master architect established his reputation as one of the leading modernist architects. Applying his knowledge of sculpture to furniture and working from old photographs, Nicolais created outstanding reproductions of Schindler’s furniture designs for the Kings Road House. Nicolais makes and sells furniture of his own design in addition to his Schindler reproductions to clients across the U.S. and in Europe.

When Steve Robinson decided to build his home on a steep downslope lot in Silver Lake, he turned to his partner, Robert, for the design. Nearly every room in the house takes advantage of the dramatic Downtown L.A. views. The home is strongly reminiscent of Schindler’s work and employs some of his practical ideas as well. The orientation of the south facing windows and the dramatic overhang of the roof provide shade during the hot summer months and sun during the winter. Convective venting allows hot air to escape from the top-level electric windows while drawing in cooler air from the lower levels. A passive solar thermal mass system allows a phase-change salt formula to melt and freeze at 81 degrees, as a way of soaking up energy from the sun. A recently added active solar hot water system in another of the many ‘green’ features. The light filled home includes many examples of Nicolais’ furniture and paintings. The landscaping is mostly natives, requiring minimal water.

The first phase of 70 townhomes being built on the site of the old Semi-Tropic Spiritualists Tract. Each house is self-contained (not a condominium complex), zoned under the Los Angeles Small Lot Subdivision Ordinance.Located at 2205 Tom Mix Road in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles.

A collaborative effort from Walter Abronson & Ko Kiyohara, AIA. With stunning views of the lake, this massive complex suits the neighborhood perfectly with the Neutra Colony of Homes just a few blocks away.The Silverview Condominiums are located at 2330 Duane Street. With Gina Moffitt, Kiyohara also designed several Silver Lake residences including the Michael Roos Residence at 2105 Kenilworth Avenue and the Harvey Sternberg Residence at 3209 Windsor Avenue.

With funding all but non-existent as a result of the financial meltdown, Silver Lake was fortunate to get its state-of-the art library approved in the ‘nick-of-time’. Designed by the firm Milofsky, Michali & Cox, construction began in 2008 and is scheduled to be completed and open sometime in the fall of 2009. The award-winning firm has extensive experience in library design and the renovation of historic structures.The new library is located on the southwest corner of Silver Lake Boulevard and Glendale Blvd.

The Shields House was designed by Venice-based architect Glen Bell, DEX Studio for John Shields, a landscape architect and concept site planner for theme parks, and his artist/illustrator partner, Nat Reed, re-imagining a single story stucco box on Redcliff Street in Silver Lake. The restyling involved reorienting the first floor, adding a second floor, and altering the facade to bring in more natural light and highlight the home�s panoramic views.. Hand-crafted screens on the exterior provide texture while visually tying the main house with a separate studio. The pattern continues throughout the home with suspended acrylic orange-colored panels suspended from the ceiling, enclosing the stairway and at the same time creating a fantastic prism of color in the interior spaces. The collaboration between the principals (landscape architect and artist) and the architect is evident everywhere, from the rectilinear pattern rug in the downstairs bedroom to the design of the exterior spaces. A tiered system of poured concrete steps and planters, enhanced by native and drought-tolerant plantings progressively reveals the connection between the architecture and gardens reducing water usage, while the terraces allow rainwater to seep into the soil rather than run off to the street.
The hilltop home was one of six homes featured on the 2011 Dwell on Design home tour. Shields studied landscape architecture at the State University of New York (SUNY) College of Environmental Science and Forestry. Located at 1855 Redcliff Street in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles.
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Built on a steep hillside in Silver Lake’s architecturally-significant Silver Ridge Avenue, the multilevel Sharlin House represents a significant departure from the architect’s typical single story home. Projecting trellises, shown here, contribute handsomely to the building’s overall design.Gregory Ain designed the house for the Sharlin family. Rose Scharlin was the moving force behind the very first cooperative nursery school in the City of Los Angeles c.1939, and the model upon which local schools patterned themselves. Beginning as the Echo Park Cooperative Nursery School, using the facilities of the Echo Park Playground, a number of its members decided to start a similar school for the Silver Lake area and broke away from the original group, taking with them as the new school�s director Mrs. Rose Scharlin in 1946. The new school began as the Lakeview Cooperative Nursery School at the present school site, which was then an abandoned tennis court. Rose Scharlin fostered the concept of parents and children growing and learning together within the group. When Rose Scharlin died in 1948, the name of the school was changed in her memory. In 1955 it merged with the old Echo Park School to become one again.Located at 2363 Silver Ridge Avenue in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles.

View from the street, approaching from the north. The alligator’ screen wall may be observed on the right side. Note the varying qualities of the horizontal volumes.

Silver Ridge Avenue has some of the most storied monuments to Modernist architecture to be found in the world, including works by Harwell Hamilton Harris, Rudolph Schindler, J.R. Davidson and Allyn E. Morris. Visiting there recently, I was struck by a number of exciting new architectural projects being infilled in a few of the steep, remaining hillside lots, and some interesting remodels.

A real eye-catcher is this stunning architectural statement at 2358 Silver Ridge. Designed by Sean Briski, Principal of the architectural firm ChromaAD, Briski has created something very special as the accompanying photos will attest.

The exterior of the house is a series of experiments in wall construction that have been organized into a composition. The screen wall at the stair is made up of tire ‘alligators’ sandwiched between panels of glass. The light-transmitting wall panel in the living room is made with packing peanuts laid between twin wall lexan.

The interior of the house is a voluminous open space, organized around a two story living room. A series of three basketball backboards are used as a guardrail and are the focus of the living room. Just as the television replaced the fireplace as the main focal point of earlier homes, this house seeks to make basketball the focal point. A large operable window opens to the outside; exposed steel and concrete connect the interior to the exterior.

Sean Briski is a principal of the firm ChromaAD. He has degrees in architecture and art from California Institute of the Arts and the Pratt Institute. The Briski Experimental House is located at 2358 Silver Ridge Avenue.

Silver Lake-based Architect Tony Unruh has taken a 1950’s Post & Beam and expanded the living space to almost 3000 sq. ft. using a successful combination of glass, wood and steel to create a very modern, clean and open design.The Santoro Residence is located at 2423 Lanterman Terrace. This photo was taken from Panorama Terrace. The property was recently sold for $1,595,000 (July 2006).

The expansive, open floor plan and a magnificent city lights view are the dominating features of this inviting home.

Julius Ralph Davidson was born in Berlin, Germany in 1889. He apprenticed in architectural offices in Berlin and London, England, and Paris, France, before opening his own practice in Berlin after World War I. He immigrated to Los Angeles and found employment with prominent architect Robert D. Farquhar (1923-24) and as an assistant to Cedric Gibbons, Art Director at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios (1924-1925) before opening his own practice. Among his most important achievements are included the Los Angeles Ambassador Hotel (1919-1921); Case Study House No. 1 (1947-48); Drucker Apartments (1940); Hi-Hat Restaurant (1927); Thomas Mann House (Pacific Palisades, 1941); Perino’s Restaurant (1940) and the Rabinowitz House (Bel-Air 1960).The Sabsay House is located at 2351 Silver Ridge Avenue in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles.

The personal home of architect Dion & Lynn Smart Neutra. Known as the ‘Reunion House’, envisioned as a hypothetical ‘grandparent’s house’ where family reunions would be held, the house is the most private of all the homes in the Neutra Colony; instead of exposed to the lake, it is hidden in a forest of trees and ponds, creating a most tranquil setting.

Another striking home in one of Silver Lake’s best neighborhoods, the Moreno Highlands, the architect built this lovely home for his family in 1977. The 3- bedroom, 2- bath residence in 2345 sq.ft. was most recently (September 2014) available for sale for $1,250,000 and described in the listing as “gorgeous views from every room in the split level home designed by architect Peter Wurzburger. An office and den add additional value. The home offers a private, handsome master suite, one bedroom on the main floor, direct entrance garage. A great home for entertaining. Located in the much sought-after Ivanhoe School District”. The Wurzburger Residence is located at 2223 Micheltorena Street.

Robert Cassiday’s design for Paul Rowe’s home/office shows the influence of the Moderne which reached its zenith in the late 20’s and early 30’s. A glass block entryway is complimented by a horizontal band of windows, providing light and privacy. The residence was recently the Los Angeles home of the British music company, Beggars Group representing labels 4AD, Matador, Rough Trade and XL, offering a destination spot for artists. The 1,800-square-foot house had been remodeled by Interior Designer Thomas Michna, a previous owner, who sold it in 2004. Beggars purchased the property in 2011 adding a patio and removing interior walls to create a more open space. As of September 2012 the entire outer skin including the windows is sheathed in a black and white mural depicting L.A. life.

The Paul Rowe Residence & Studio is located at 2035 Hyperion Avenue on the edge of Silver Lake and Los Feliz.

Architect Ray V. Otero selected a hillside lot in Silver Lake affording dramatic city views and built this lovely post and beam for his personal residence in 1961. Highlighted by high ceilings and walls of glass, the residence expresses Otero’s Modernist ethic. A recent restoration by Inside Space Interiors brings a fresh vitality.A graduate of the University of Southern California School of Architecture, Otero also designed a home at 1944 Lucile Avenue, and did extensive remodeling of a home at 2215 Micheltorena Street. In the Los Feliz area, he designed and buillt a home at 2209 Live Oak Drive and another on Valley Oak Drive. He currently resides in Tulsa, OK.

The Otero Residence is located at 1986 Lucile Avenue. It is currently listed (September 2006) for sale for just under $1M)

Ain’s ingenious design provided for a u-shaped driveway and a drive-through garage, with garage doors on both ends allowing cars to enter or exit from either direction. This solved the problem of providing for parking, entry and egress on a small lot on a narrow street. Note the bands of glass windows in the upper living areas, a signature trademark of the architect.Orans House is located in the Moreno Highlands of Silver Lake at 2404 Micheltorena Street.

Dramatic hillside architectural designed by Architect Leo Yuen Park in 1983 for himself and David L. Rhodes. The house is organized around four levels with the garage on the street level, a separate studio apartment on the first level, and the third and fourth floors having the main house. Classifled as a condominium because of its unusually small lot size (2761 sq. ft.) the house nevertheless has over 3,000 sq. feet of living space, plus additional outdoor spaces, including multiple decks and patios, a waterfall and outdoor shower. It is the only house on the even side of Fanning Street at no. 1758,

Rudolf Schindler built this house on a hillside lot, on an angle away from the street to take full advantage of the sunset views to the west. Schindler furnished the house with his own signature ‘unit’ furniture, allowing assembly in a variety of combinations. It was built at a cost of $4 per square foot.The Oliver House is located at 2236 Micheltorena Street in the Moreno Highlands neighborhood of Silver Lake.

Re-interpreted by Designer George Mimnaugh in 2005, these dramatic hillside units retain the original use of glass, concrete and wood with modern updates.Declared a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument in 2007 (No. 868). Located at 2346-48 Cove Avenue.

A view of the loggia. The view of the lake is outstanding from the floor to ceiling windows, yet the setting affords complete privacy.

Once in a rare while, the opportunity comes along to visit a fabled treasure that is normally a well-kept secret and off-limits to the general public. I was familiar with stories about the house, where Eric Lloyd Wright, grandson of Frank Lloyd Wright and a distinguished architect in his own right, designed a home for his half-brother Rupert Pole and Anais Nin, the famous feminist and writer in 1962. It was the architect�s first solo commission; he returned to the site on November 20, 2010 for an interview with the Silver Lake Neighborhood Council History Collective(SLNCHC). Bob Herzog, Co-Chair of the Committee invited me along, to document and photograph the participants and the occasion. Also on hand were the architect�s son and daughter-in-law, Devon and Marion �Tree� Wright, and Jenifer Palmer-Lacy, who conducted the interview.The glass, concrete and wood house is located on the precipice of a hill on the east side of Silver Lake, overlooking the reservoir and the Moreno Highlands in the west. Wright, in the interview, reminisced about his relationship with his clients; his half-brother, Rupert Pole and Anais Nin, the famed feminist and author, who shocked the literary world with frank details about her sexual escapades, including her relationship with author Henry Miller and his wife, made public in the book, �Henry and June�. She lead a double life, being married to Pole, her �west coast� lover, and her New York husband, Hugh �Hugo� Guiler, with whom she kept an apartment in Manhattan. Neither spouse was aware of the other; although she married Pole in 1955, the marriage was nullified 11 years later after she confessed that she was already married. She would return to Pole, 16 years her junior, to spend her final years together with him in the Silver Lake house, until her death in 1977. The house was designated a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument(No. 892) in 2007.

Nin-Pole Residence, Eric Lloyd Wright, Architect 1962The house was to have a single bedroom, inasmuch as the couple had no children and didn’t want guests staying the night. The bedroom is off the living room; the folding doors, seen here were never closed.

A continuous wall of windows and sliding glass doors capture the view of the swimming pool, mountain, sky, and lake. In her ‘Dairy’, Author Anais Nin described the house as ‘one large studio, no separate, small partitions. It had the sense of space of Japanese houses; it had the vista of a Japanese screen, all sky, mountains, lake, as if living in the out-of-doors.’

For forty years this office building on Glendale Blvd. was the home of the Neutra architectural practice and remains the only example of Neutra commercial design with its original appearance. Designed in the International Modern Style for which the architect is remembered as one of its greatest pioneers. The building retains original buit-ins and interior detailing designed by Neutra.The Neutra Office Building is located at 2379 Glendale Blvd. in Silver Lake. It is currently (December 2006) listed for sale for $3,500,000. (For details, go to www.Neutra.org). It is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and was designated an Historic-Cultural Monument in the City of Los Angeles in April 2000 (No. 676)

The indoor-outdoor relationship of the N-HN House made possible by the large double-leafed pocket doors, as seen in this photo.

View of the interior, showing the central staircase and the open arrangement of the main floor.

View from the backyard. Note the large deck off the master suite on the upper level, extending over the main living area. Mom and Dad can keep an eye on the kids playing outside, and at other times, just enjoy the view.

N-HN House, aNX Architecture, Aaron Neubert, Architect 2007

Architect Aaron Neubert AIA designed the N-HN House for his own growing family, replacing an original 1920’s bungalow. The residence maximizes a compact footprint that achieves a primary objective: to engage the multiple landscapes of the property. Exterior rooms extend from three main living space within the house: the kitchen, living room and master suite, more than doubling the total sqaure footage. Three double-leafed glass pocket doors act as valves to modulate environmental exposure , allowing the family a direct connection to the landscape, while maintaing a comfortable indoor temperature throughout the year.

The interior is organized around a central staircase, with guest suite, garage and laundry at the street level; a main level with kitchen/lounge, living room, dining room and children’s bedrooms on the main floor; and a master suite on the top floor. Large windows frame the home’s micro landscape, as well as the hills of Silver Lake, and offer the added benefit of natural, ambient light throughout the day, limiting the need for most artificial lighting.

View from the backyard. Note the large deck off the master suite on the upper level, extending over the main living area. Mom and Dad can keep an eye on the kids playing outside, and at other times, just enjoy the view.

N-HN House, aNX Architecture, Aaron Neubert, Architect 2007

Architect Aaron Neubert, shown at the N-HN House in Silver Lake in July 2007. Aaron received a Master of Architecture degree from Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation in 1997. He holds a Bachelor of Design degree, Magna Cum Laude, from the University of Florida, where he studied art and architecture. In 1994, he traveled abroad and pursued studies at the Vicenza Institute of Architecture, Vicenzia, Italy.

Aaron established his architectural practice in Los Angeles in 2000. His work has been recognized with Merit Awards from the American Institute of Architects(Los Angeles and San Fernando Valley chapters) and he is the recipient of the Van Alen Prise in Public Architecture. His independent and collaborative designs have been featured in numerous national and international publications including Architecture, Interior Design, Interiors, New York Times, LA Architect, Los Angeles Times, Dwell, Art in America, Architectural Design, Desert Living, Concetp, Arhitext, the Art Newspaper and the monographs Digital Architecture and All American. He has served as Design Instructor at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Art, the Southern California Institute of Architecture, Otis School of Design, Woodbury University, and Cal Poly Pomona.